Just came back from researching in library and my head is cracking. (And yet am so very excited...
I really do have a LOVE/hate relationship with Archi...)
Reason? It's the beginning of a new project and my tutor is a weirdly cool guy. His project brief: To make an Observatory on Mt. Emily park (It's somewhere in Mt. Sophia. The whole studio is still banned from visiting the site so we can concentrate on our concept.). The programs of the Observatory will be: observing the day time sky, night time sky, and the city.
Thinking that it's an amazing, romantic program, but knowing that the Singapore sky is very light polluted I happily went to research on astronomy and found out that binoculars can be used to stargaze and supposedly will enable us to see more stars. So grabbed my Dad's binoculars and camped at school (easier to find dark places). Was out at 1 A.M looking at the night sky...yep i's true i could see more stars with binoculars but it's still nothing to boast about. Obviously the night sky program most probably would not work.
Next day, happily told that to my tutor. His reaction: "Well, do you know why I gave you that program? Because in Singapore it would not work! The atmosphere is too thick."
. . . . . . . . .
I knew there had to be a catch somewhere...aaaaa!!! Oh well, but that's exactly why I so like being under my current tutor. Forces me to squeeze the last drops of creative juices outta my brain..hahaha..
And so I was thinking..how to make people appreciate a night sky that is just a blank, weird purplish color...Then my mind wandered to thoughts of "Surely, the only people who'd appreciate that kind of sky are people who've never seen the sky before...". Yep, the visually impaired or the blind.
....Got me thinking... we take "Observing" as such a simple, mundane, trivial thing. But what about blind people? Maybe they want to see the blue day sky, the black night sky, with all their heart..but they cannot. How do these blind people "observe" the world? How do they tell time? How do they tell one place from another?
And so that is the idea that I'm playing with in my head right now. An Observatory for the Blind. Am I becoming too cretive for my own good? Hm....I foresee challengingly fun but stressful times ahead...Feels that I'm getting myself into trouble, actually..
But surprisingly, there are people who thought of it before. There's a workshop that helps blind people "explore" the outer space. (Just google "observatory blind") , and NASA published books about the universe that has textures to help the visually impaired explore sunspots, constellation etc. It's titled "Touch the Sun" and "Touch the Stars".
Hufh.....hence all is not lost....yet....
Well, in every field you have special terms - almost insider's joke - that people in the profession know. So it is in Archi. Here are some of them...
Life (Or rather, the lack of)
The elusive thingy that eludes almost every Archi student (except the shens among us - see related entry).. granted, we have "Studio Life" (See entry below) , which is not bad either, but sometimes we do yearn to breathe the air outside studio without the burden of impending submission weighing heavy on our hearts...but how to have Life when Archi occupies you 24/7/365???
Studio Life
Can be literally translated as "living in studio", i.e. pitch your tent/ hammock / safari bed / sleeping bag on your favorite corner, to be used when you have Time (Another rare, precious commodity in Archi beside Sleep.) Studio Life consists of seeing the same people almost 24/7, (You're lucky if, like me, your studio consist of wonderful people, but woe betides if your arch-enemy is in the same studio...), working into the wee hours of the morning, glue-sniffing (No choice..when you make Models..can choose from about 8 types of glue, though!), supper (more like, breakfast VERY EARLY in the morning), watching legal/ pirated movies, walking to hall at 1 AM to shower, seeing your Studiomates get high and reveal their true colours....Man....I'm missing studio already....Oh, and most importantly, no matter what non-Archi students think, Studio Life is still a valid variant of Life!
Submission
It basically means the day the projects have to be submitted, and the nearing of Submission implies that Archi students will neglect other less important issues, such as Life and Sleep.
Do not be surprised if Archi students speaks of Submission in the tone normal people reserve for Armaggeddon or alien invasion. We are conditioned to think it's a life-and-death situation. Do be kind to your Archi friends near Submission. Asking "Where have you disappeared?" to an Archi student you know just had Submission is akin to asking "Sure, I know you just went to Afghanistan to fight the Taleban. Now where's my souvenir?"
Model
Exit Naomi Campbell and Lily Cole. Enter entities made of cardboard / wood / foam whose making is one of the main reasons we severely lack sleep. Rather than spending the night with Kate Moss, Archi students are much more excited passing the time making these building miniatures. Also,if you check the cameras / photo files of Archi students, they usually have TONS of photos of these models, from every conceivable angle, especially if it's a model of their own design. Ah well....I have to say that these are superbly gorgeous...much more than their human counterparts..
Parti
When and Archi student says "Party",banish all thoughts of fun and camaraderie cuz he/she probably means "Parti", alias a model used to illustrate spatial qualities of a building. So next time you hear us saying something that sounds like "party models" , rest assured that it doesn't mean gorgeous people hired to add spice to a party.
Studio
An artificial environment - air-con and 100% electrical lighting - geared to maximize productivity (read: an environment where we never know what time it is, sunrise or sunset, so we can slave away without realizing it.) Anyway, after spending days and nights in the studio, it will gradually feel like THE place to be. Nice thing about having a studio is you have a lot of storage and living space right smack in the middle of school. No wonder my friend say archi students no need apply for campus accomodation. The studio is free and full air-con!
The World
Anywhere outside studio.
Virgin
Someone who has never stayed overnight in the studio before. Term popularized by one of my studio mate who intends to stay a virgin for the 5 years in archi. Dream on, dude.
Shen
Comes from the mandarin word 'god'. It refers to the person who always finish his projects one day early, produces tons of super nice, gigantic models, drew 10 panels when people are supposed o hand in 6, AND manages not to have eye-bags. They are truly beyond us mere mortals.
Scoring
Scoring here does not involve a girl or a soccer team. It means painstakingly making fine lines on a cardboard using a cutter to create an embedded pattern. Potential disaster zone if you cannot control your own strength. A little bit more pressure, and that piece of cardboard you've been scoring for the last 1 hour is cut into two!
Sleep
Necessity, entertainment, luxury all rolled into one. The first and foremost activity that will come to an Archi student's mind when we hear words like 'free time', ;weekend' and 'holiday'.
Shopping
One of the few rare activities that will require an Archi student to venture out into The World. Shopping - for model materials, reference books, drawing paper, rotring etc - almost always involves a trip to Bras Basah, to visit a certain shop called Art Friend, well known for its unfriendly prices. (Also referred to as 'Leech')
Busy
A truly overused word in Archi. Well, after some time we don't even have the chance to say busy since we're always scrambling around doing the next project and Submission.
Light-boxing
Nope, it's not the cousin of Thai-boxing. Light-boxing involves a big light-box (duh..) which is like a glass table with a lamp below that we use for tracing.
"Good morning"
Saying "Good Morning" at 8 or 9 AM in the morning is passe. Be an Archi student and you get to say the phrase to your friends anytime between 00.01 to 06.00 am.
NUS Archi
THE place to be. If you want to slave away your youth, anyway.
Wen to the library to renew my library membership 2 days ago..and found out that a PR only pays half the fee compared to foreigners!!! Granted the savings only amounts to $10 per year, but since I intend to continue my membership till the day I die, and my life expectation is 85 years,it's still a tidy sum.
The funny thing is, the conversation went like this:
Librarian (L) : "Oh so you are a PR now? I need to update the database. And you only need to pay $10"
me: "Oh,cool!"
*Librarian did her stuff. Me watched and think Singapore government is good for giving PRs half-fee.*
*Librarian finished doing her stuff. Me happily took out cashcard.*
L: "Oh by the way, you have some fines. Do you want to pay at once?"
Me: "Yah , sure."
L: "Alright. Here's the amount you owe while you were still a foreigner.."
Me: " ......" *realisation hits that my status in Singapore is officially not foreigner anymore..*
Hm....feels a bit weird...not a foreigner,but not citizen either...a rather convenient arrangement, I'd say. Ah well, as long as PR perks are extended to National Library Board (THE institution that matters!), me is contented!
I'm living by a new motto:
"Cannot finish also must can!"
Which goes by the abbreviation: "CFAMC!"
And so by Tuesday I must:
1. together with my studio finish stitching all the plywood structure
2. finish editing Singapore Studies essay and put in references etc
3. Write reading response for SEA architecture history
4. Read articles and prepare for debate in SS tutorial (this one's for tmr..dunno how I'm gonna do it..)
5. Practice presentation for SEA archi history
Hm....
CFAMC!!!!
I could live life alone
And never fill the longings of my heart
The healing warmth of someone's arms
And I could live without dreams
And never know the thrill of what could be
With every star so far and out of reach
I could live without many things
And I could carry on, but..
I couldn't face my life tomorrow
Without Your hope in my heart I know
I can't live a day without You
Lord, there's no night and there's no morning
Without Your loving arms to hold me
You're the heartbeat of all I do
I can't live a day without You
I could travel the world
See all the wonders beautiful and new
They'd only make me think of You
And I could have all life offers
Riches that were far beyond compare
To grant my every wish without a care
Oh, I could do anything, oh yes
But if You weren't in it all..
Oh, Jesus, I live because You live
You're like the air I breathe
Oh, Jesus, I have because You give
You're everything to me
No life, and there's haste
No time, but there's space
No home, yet there's studio
Archi today,
and Archi tomorrow....
(inspired by the 'graffiti found in PGP)
Now, if only "site survey" can be like this every time....